Arkansas Blog

Sounds about right to me. "We can't afford to pay some folks anymore, you being one of them. Sorry about that. (Oh yeah, we still have our jobs.)"

Happened to me last year (in an unrelated field).

Good ridance.

So say you, strangelove. I had a discussion today in the hallway about hiring me back for my past position, but hush-hush politics said "hush-hush"--while glancing around the hallway to see who might have heard. That is not a free society.

Good Lord, if cutting expenses means that the paper's Arkansas Section (B) will get any skimpier, the boys down there at 121 E. Capitol might as well do away with it. Most of the "news" in Section B is of very little or no interest statewide. For example in today's six-page section we were treated to these marvelous revelations: (1) charter schools in Farmington can't move to Fayetteville (who cares?); (2) a court backs prison policy on men's hair (gimme a break); (3) food bank gets gift of peanut butter (oh please); (4) Oil Trough wants levees studied (big woo!); and (5) UA law school to launch clinic on immigration. Those were pretty much THE stories of the day, along with some obits, a couple of editorials (one on kids' meals packing in the calories), and the usual letters to the editor claptrap that holds little interest for most readers. I'm not optimistic about improvements being made. I mean, why bother when you're the only show in town? Frankly, I can't imagine why anybody with their own hometown daily would subscribe to a rag that describes itself as "ARKANSAS' NEWSPAPER." As a Little Rockian, it pains me to say that.

Well, look, Durango, the point is that the market for screeds about George W. Bush is pretty much limited to the 13 people who come to this site. Most people with a life want to hear about other things as well. Ranting about George W. Bush and the Republicans is fun and all, but except for those of us on this blog, that's just not enough. So the newspaper has to report about other things, too. A newspaper is like a cafeteria, you don't have to read everything in it.

Casimer Pulaski,

What on earth does George W. Bush have to do with it? You're the person who brought him into a discussion about local newspapers, local newspaper writing, and the lack of the latter in the former.

Geez, Louise, get a clue!

We better get used to all this....our time in the sun is over, this is China's century. They seem to be doing very well. In the future please refer to us as Old America-AT&T.

This is one of the about a dozen reasons I left the station -- in that context, of course. It's probably also why I can't seem to find steady and assured work at any one place in the writing field. It's very frustrating.

"Let China sleep. When she awakens the whole world will be sorry."

----Napoleon Bonaparte

I've subscribed to the ADG several times, convincing myself I "might" read it, but I'm too wedded to the internet I guess, because I just hate all that paper. I always cancel within 2-3 weeks. I remember reading almost every inch of the Gazette, but that's history.

I just don't like the ADG enough to help support them.

Gonna make it harder to fund his NWA newspaper war. I suggested he sell off his horrible cable operations while they still have a smidgeon of cash flow.

Think about those 1,132 contract carriers and bundle haulers driving 1,600,000 miles per month. Then be aware that they have to buy a lot more gasoline than it takes to drive that many miles, because the carriers vehicles are idling for most of the 1.5 to 2 hours it takes to deliver their routes. That's a lot of global-warming emissions. And, whenever there is as much as a 20 percent chance of rain forecast, they have to put the papers in plastic bags that do not biodegrade. (Under their contracts the carriers have to buy the bags. The DoG doesn't provide them.) And then there all of the trees that go into the newsprint. (One of my Republican friends comments that trees are "just a crop.") All of that to achieve the paper's award-winning penetration of news about the awards it has won and columns by Bradley Gitz, Dana Kelly, et. al. Talk about polution!

"...the writing field" -- huh?
Kat, I like your stuff, generally, but just say you can't find a damn reporting job, or writing as you prefer.

'Tis mostly true. I'd love to be able to write this sort of stuff for a living. May just be a bad time to try to make a career of it. I have been blessed with the assignments I have been able to garner, and I am thankful for that.

But... the writing wasn't why I left the station. I had no idea I'd end up as a writer when I took the leap last year. All I knew was that the financial situation at my previous job made the decision to leave easier... and added to other considerations made that decision a no-brainer. Feel free to drop me an email off-blog if you'd like me to elaborate.

If the D-G really wanted to cut costs, they'd trim their absurdly bloated stable of editors (click on my name). All that's missing is a Deputy Associate Assistant Managing Editor for Confederate Holiday Coverage. Rest sassured there's plenty of deadwood on the S.S. Dem-Gaz (like, the entire cadre of Voices page columnists), but rather than heave it overboard the entire staff will be financially starved.

Oh, and no salary increase isn't really that big of a change. Scrooge Hussman has been giving stingy, less than cost of living across the board raises, regardless of merit or talent, for years. Of course, 2% is a hell of a lot more if you're making six figures like the top editors do than if you're making starvation reporter wages.

We have a Sunday-only subscription and just got a letter today indicating the monthly rate will be increasing as of September, from $5.67 to $6.25

Gonna make it harder to fund his NWA newspaper war. I suggested he sell off his horrible cable operations while they still have a smidgeon of cash flow.<<

I think ADG's NWA competitor is making it from inserts, those shiny, slick inserts that the carriers must stick in the paper 2 or 3x weekly. The Morning News informed their carriers last week that plastic protective bags the paper is inserted into will now be paid for by the carriers, not the Paper, not Stephens Media. Carriers' gas tabs have soared, doubling their self-employed business costs and they stick them with another $15-20 per day for plastic bags. What a bunch of jerks.

Hussman is truly inept. Click on my name for 11 reasons the D-G's demise is inevitable.